NYC NOW - Council Speaker Adams Leaves with Choice Words on Mayor Adams’ Leadership

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is looking back on Mayor Eric Adams' administration as an era of embarrassment and missed opportunities.

Counsel Speaker Adrian Adams leaves office with choice words on Mayor Adams's leadership and calls it, quote, painful. From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York State is rolling out more funding for NYPD officers to patrol subway trains and platforms. Governor Kathy Hokel says her administration will put up another $77 million to support overtime. for officers assigned to the city's transit system. These funds will support over 600 officers per day and search patrols when they're most needed

at the discretion of our police commissioner. City officials say 2025 has been one of the safest years on record for subway and bus riders. NYPD data shows transit crime is down 5% since last year. Hokel says that's part of a 15% decline in transit crime since 2019. According to the MTA, more than 4 million people ride the subway every day. Now onto some legislation that reportedly weighed heavily on the governor this week.

Hockel says deciding to sign the Medical Aid and Dying Act was one of the toughest choices she's made during her time in office. WNYC's Jimmy Vilkine has more. The governor says she wrestled with the decision over the bill, which will make New York the 13th state to allow physician-assisted death. Hokel says she pushed for additional safeguards, including a waiting period for patients who request to end their own lives. Advocates for the bill say it empowers patients and avoids needless suffering. Opponents, including the state's Roman Catholic bishops, say it devalues life and will have unintended consequences.

Hockel says she didn't want her religious faith to deny people rights. I can't stand here, even as a Catholic, and say, I can't allow someone else to do something that I perhaps would not do. I cannot stand in their way. The law takes effect next summer. A new archbishop will soon stand at the pulpit at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Pope Leo has appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks of Illinois to lead the Archdiocese of New York. David Gibson directs the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University.

He says the Archbishop of New York has a large influence on the world's stage. You just automatically have a profile and a platform that puts you out there in the conversation. Whatever Archbishop-elect Hicks does in this job is going to have a major effect in the church and I think in this country. Hicks will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who submitted his resignation earlier this year, after turning 75. That's the mandatory retirement age for bishops. The new archbishop will start in February. City Council speaker Adrian Adams is looking back on Mayor Eric Adams's administration as an era of embarrassment and missed opportunities. More on that after the break. New York City Council Speaker Adrian Adams is preparing to leave office, but not without a few choice words on Mayor Eric Adams's era, which she calls one of embarrassment and missed out.

opportunities. Speaker Adams says it wasn't long after the mayor's inauguration when she realized their relationship would be a challenge. My colleague Bridget Bergen recently sat down with the outgoing speaker at the Atlantic Diner in South Richmond Hill Queens. One of our first meetings was at a diner when we were first elected that February. And we pretty much made a commitment then, that the lines of communication would always be open, that we would respect each other's boundaries and respect each other's positions. We had great hope for the legacy

that the two of us would lead. Our positions were historic in and of itself, being graduates of Bayside at the same time, coming from the same neighborhoods, a black mayor and a black speaker, leading in City Hall for the first time together. This was such a historic moment in time. not just for Eric and myself, but for New York City,

we had the potential to bring each other along into great spaces. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Part of what you described there was this moment of the power and potential of black political leadership in New York City. What's the message that it's sending to this community that you both came from, that it has ended in this way? We went through a period of embarrassment as a community because of the mayor's troubles. And the community felt it.

I don't know if he realizes the extent that our community felt it. Us here in Southeast Queens, this is where he lived. It was felt and it was painful for our community. Bridget says Speaker Adams' criticism is directly connected to Mayor Adams' five-count criminal indictment for bribery. And the breaking point for Adrian Adams was when four of the city's deputy mayors resigned on the same day after the Department of Justice had moved to dismiss those corruption charges against him. They were arguing that the allegations had hindered the mayor's ability to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Bridget says Speaker Adams had enough, and that triggered her own mayoral bid.

It was an unsuccessful attempt, though. That's where the two pick up their conversation at the diner in Queens. By the time I decided to get into this race, a race that I never intended to get into in the first place. And the reason that I got into this race was because four deputy mayors resigned at the same time. They all walked out of the door at the same time. This was what it took for me to say, this is the brain of this computer in the mayoral administration. If the brain fails, what is going to happen to the rest of us in New York? I can't sit back and do nothing.

I've got to do something. I've got to get in this race. That was my impetus for getting into the race for mayor. But unfortunately, our runway was too short, and that's what happened. There wasn't enough time to build, you know, what we needed to build to win. Given that your campaign was about your experience,

how concerned are you about Mayor-elect Mamdani's lack of experience? I believe that Mayor-elect Mamdani is, now putting people around him that have that know-how, that expertise, that experience that is needed. I expect that he will put more folks that have the experience to help guide him in leadership for the city. What would you flag is some of his potential blind spots? The obvious one for me, of course, is a relationship with the city council, something that was never garnered or fostered by, you know, the prior administration to their detriment. I might add. And it's something that led to what I considered to be contempt for the council.

What do you make of the role that Mayor-elect-Mam Dani played in this current speaker race? Do you think he should have been more involved? I don't know the role that Mayor-elect-Mam Dani played in the speaker race. I didn't hear too much buzz about anything that he was doing or not doing. So it's really hard to speak to that. What I will say is that it's good for any mayor to know the members, to get a feel for who they are, where they come from. In that regard, I would have hoped that he would have reached out to the members

to at least get a flavor of who they are, what they need in their districts, that type of thing. Julie Menon is expected to succeed you, and that means that once again there's going to be a council that's being led by a speaker from Manhattan. I'm wondering how you think that might change the council's priorities, and what does it mean to lose that Outer Borough perspective that you brought to the role? It is so important that the next speaker listen to the members that come from Outer Boroughs, those of us that live here, those of us, and I've said it a thousand times, those of us that see, ourselves in our neighbors when we open our front door. We live the life of our neighbors. I've taken the E-Train from end to end for years as a commuter. If Councilmember Menon, as expected, is going to be the next speaker, the way that I would suggest is to get into these districts and see how people are living, see how working class people really, really live in the outer boroughs, get familiar

with it because she will not just be responsible for Manhattan. She will be responsible for 50 other districts beside her own. That was New York City Council Speaker Adrian Adams, talking with my colleague, Bridget Bergen. Speaker Adams led her final stated meeting of the City Council Thursday at City Hall. Before we go, a quick heads up on some nasty weather headed our way. The National Weather Service is warning that some coastal flooding is possible Friday morning into the afternoon. Up to a half foot of flooding is expected in vulnerable areas near the waterfront and shoreline in the Bronx, northern Queens, southern Westchester, and parts of Suffolk and Nassau counties, as well as Southern Fairfield County in Connecticut. Here's a reminder for drivers. Try not to drive through flooded roadways, okay? Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC.

I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.